IC 1318 (Gamma Cygni Nebula) · ATR2600C · 2026-09-07

IC 1318, commonly called the Gamma Cygni Nebula or the Sadr Region, is a large emission (HII) nebula in Cygnus surrounding the bright star Sadr (Gamma Cygni) as seen in projection, though the two are not physically associated: Sadr itself lies roughly 1,800 light-years away, while the nebula is much farther, at around 4,900 light-years. The nebula is ionized by a hot, heavily obscured O-type star and spans over 100 light-years, laced throughout with dark dust lanes and nebulae that give it a mottled, textured appearance. It sits in a particularly rich part of the Cygnus Milky Way, near other notable emission nebulae including the Butterfly Nebula and the Crescent Nebula. Hα, O III, and S II narrowband filters all work well here, revealing intricate structure that is largely invisible in broadband images.

[Source: Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IC_1318]

Annotated Image

The annotated version is shown above - click it to zoom. Open the annotated image at full resolution.

Sky Location

The chart above shows where this image sits on the night sky. The yellow outline is its field of view, with the picture itself drawn at its true orientation; north is up and east is left. Click the chart to zoom in, and use "open full resolution" for the full-size chart.

Image Details

PixInsight Processing

1. Image Integration (x2)
2. BlurXTerminator (AI deconvolution) (x3)
3. GraXpert (gradient removal)
4. Spectrophotometric Color Calibration
5. NoiseXTerminator (AI denoise)
6. StarXTerminator (star removal)
7. Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch (x6)
8. PixelMath (x2)
9. Curves Transformation (x2)
10. Multiscale Linear Transform

IC 1318, commonly called the Gamma Cygni Nebula or the Sadr Region, is a large emission (HII) nebula in Cygnus surrounding the bright star Sadr (Gamma Cygni) as seen in projection, though the two are not physically associated: Sadr itself lies roughly 1,800 light-years away, while the nebula is much farther, at around 4,900 light-years. The nebula is ionized by a hot, heavily obscured O-type star and spans over 100 light-years, laced throughout with dark dust lanes and nebulae that give it a mottled, textured appearance. It sits in a particularly rich part of the Cygnus Milky Way, near other notable emission nebulae including the Butterfly Nebula and the Crescent Nebula. Hα, O III, and S II narrowband filters all work well here, revealing intricate structure that is largely invisible in broadband images.

[Source: Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IC_1318]

Annotated Image

The annotated version is shown above - click it to zoom. Open the annotated image at full resolution.

Sky Location

The chart above shows where this image sits on the night sky. The yellow outline is its field of view, with the picture itself drawn at its true orientation; north is up and east is left. Click the chart to zoom in, and use "open full resolution" for the full-size chart.

Image Details

PixInsight Processing

1. Image Integration (x2)
2. BlurXTerminator (AI deconvolution) (x3)
3. GraXpert (gradient removal)
4. Spectrophotometric Color Calibration
5. NoiseXTerminator (AI denoise)
6. StarXTerminator (star removal)
7. Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch (x6)
8. PixelMath (x2)
9. Curves Transformation (x2)
10. Multiscale Linear Transform

IC 1318, commonly called the Gamma Cygni Nebula or the Sadr Region, is a large emission (HII) nebula in Cygnus surrounding the bright star Sadr (Gamma Cygni) as seen in projection, though the two are not physically associated: Sadr itself lies roughly 1,800 light-years away, while the nebula is much farther, at around 4,900 light-years. The nebula is ionized by a hot, heavily obscured O-type star and spans over 100 light-years, laced throughout with dark dust lanes and nebulae that give it a mottled, textured appearance. It sits in a particularly rich part of the Cygnus Milky Way, near other notable emission nebulae including the Butterfly Nebula and the Crescent Nebula. Hα, O III, and S II narrowband filters all work well here, revealing intricate structure that is largely invisible in broadband images.

[Source: Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IC_1318]

Annotated Image

The annotated version is shown above - click it to zoom. Open the annotated image at full resolution.

Sky Location

The chart above shows where this image sits on the night sky. The yellow outline is its field of view, with the picture itself drawn at its true orientation; north is up and east is left. Click the chart to zoom in, and use "open full resolution" for the full-size chart.

Image Details

PixInsight Processing

1. Image Integration (x2)
2. BlurXTerminator (AI deconvolution) (x2)
3. GraXpert (gradient removal)
4. Spectrophotometric Color Calibration
5. NoiseXTerminator (AI denoise)
6. StarXTerminator (star removal)
7. Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch (x6)
8. PixelMath
9. Curves Transformation

IC 1318, commonly called the Gamma Cygni Nebula or the Sadr Region, is a large emission (HII) nebula in Cygnus surrounding the bright star Sadr (Gamma Cygni) as seen in projection, though the two are not physically associated: Sadr itself lies roughly 1,800 light-years away, while the nebula is much farther, at around 4,900 light-years. The nebula is ionized by a hot, heavily obscured O-type star and spans over 100 light-years, laced throughout with dark dust lanes and nebulae that give it a mottled, textured appearance. It sits in a particularly rich part of the Cygnus Milky Way, near other notable emission nebulae including the Butterfly Nebula and the Crescent Nebula. Hα, O III, and S II narrowband filters all work well here, revealing intricate structure that is largely invisible in broadband images.

[Source: Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IC_1318]

Annotated Image

The annotated version is shown above - click it to zoom. Open the annotated image at full resolution.

Sky Location

The chart above shows where this image sits on the night sky. The yellow outline is its field of view, with the picture itself drawn at its true orientation; north is up and east is left. Click the chart to zoom in, and use "open full resolution" for the full-size chart.

Image Details

PixInsight Processing

1. Image Integration (x2)
2. BlurXTerminator (AI deconvolution)
3. GraXpert (gradient removal)
4. Spectrophotometric Color Calibration
5. NoiseXTerminator (AI denoise)
6. Multiscale Adaptive Stretch